Zenjago: Masters of Spinjitzu

Part 1 - Way of the Ninja

September 19, 2020
ᴡᴏʀᴅꜱ ▬ 5280

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He was back.

Ignacia.

Wu missed the dry, hot lands of the valley that made up the village. It was a small one with few people, the residents being primarily farmers, and though it was not well known or notably successful it was a humble town that all its villagers were proud to live in.

It was perfect for a particular blacksmith's shop.

Just walking through Ignacia and passing the rice farmers brought back memories to Wu, for good and for bad. Most of all, he recalled the time spent with a good friend of his-- Ray Smith.

But Ray was no longer there, nor his wife Maya. They left behind their shop and their two children when they disappeared many years ago, and their loss still brought a fresh sadness to the old man.

In the past, Wu had traveled to Ignacia to recruit Ray to fight in a war. Now, he was traveling there again, hoping to recruit a new Fire elemental to fight in an inevitable war.

He picked up on two teenage voices as he drew nearer. One had an accent foreign to Ignacia while the other did not. Ray once had an accent, but over time he sounded more like the locals. Something told him that the girl with the accent was the Fire elemental, the one who looked up to her father and wanted to make him proud more than anything.

That girl was the one he was searching for.

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"What do they call it in the city? The speeches that teach people, it's a person's name and then the word 'talk'- what is it?"

"Umm... TED Talks?"

"Yes, thank you. Welcome to Harper's TED Talk. Today, I will teach you how to forge a sword."

Two teenagers stood inside the Four Weapons Blacksmith, their family business. Both were blonde and had burn marks on their arms from forging, though one bore many more than the other. The older sibling, Harper, kept wavy blonde hair in a bun with chopsticks; scars marked her face, one grazing near her eye, and on her left arm (her right, oddly, remained unblemished).

Harper held something inside the barrel filled with cold water. "To forge the perfect weapon, you first need the right metal and plenty of heat. Cool it off..." She pulled her sword out of the barrel. "...and boom!"

'Sword' was a far cry from what it looked like. What she had just created was twisted and mangled, reflecting the late afternoon sun from the wet curls of metal. Harper sighed in disappointment and stabbed the failed weapon into the sand.

Her younger brother was leaning against a wooden pole, watching in amusement. Morro had impossibly pale skin, which was surprising given the intense heat and sun of the valley, and his blonde hair was styled in a long undercut. His hair, like his sister's, had highlights from the intense sun and constant exposure to heat, but his was accompanied by a single streak of green that framed the right side of his face. Harper had forced him to put his hair into a half-tail to avoid it catching on fire, which had happened too many times-- evident with the erratically cut tips of hair and black scorches at the tips.

Morro snorted. "You made it too quickly, you've gotta be patient. If Dad was still here, he'd say-"

"Mhm. 'No matter how much fire you have, experience isn't something you learn overnight.' " She untied her blacksmiths' robe and held it up, passively examining the new burns in the firelight. "Yeah, fuck that."